


Inspirational

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 21:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7773622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’ve been old for a while now, Sheppard.  An old, old man.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inspirational

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #234 "declassification"

Rodney barely glanced up from his tablet when the door to their bedroom slid open, then did a double-take as John flopped, face-down and limbs spread, onto their bed.

“How was your day, dear?” asked Rodney, deadpan, setting his computer on the desk.

John gave a low moan. “I’m _old_ ,” he said.

“You’ve been old for a while now, Sheppard.” Rodney crossed to the bed, sitting next to John’s hip, and rested a hand against the small of his back. “An old, old man.”

John was a few months shy of sixty-eight, but while he’d given up regular gate travel almost two decades ago, he still kept in good enough shape for the occasional rescue mission.

“Thanks,” John muttered, but Rodney could feel tense muscles relaxing under his fingers. “I just _feel_ old. It’s stupid.”

Rodney slid his hand up John’s t-shirt-covered spine, then back down. “It must be, if it’s got you acting like a thirteen-year-old girl.”

John snorted and rolled onto his back – Rodney let his hand slide over skin-warm fabric until it came to rest on John’s hip. “The _Archimedes_ came in this afternoon.”

“Uh-huh,” said Rodney.

The _Archimedes_ was an F-307, one of the two dozen-or-so ships in Earth’s rapidly-growing fleet. Since Rodney had finally discovered how to produce ZPMs (with, perhaps, some help from Radek and Jeannie) ships came and went from Earth every other day, and Rodney hardly paid attention anymore.

“And a bunch of her crew, this was their first trip to Atlantis,” John continued, “so Colonel Haley gave them a couple of hours to see the city. I was down at the pier to—”

“See if that skateboard you thought I didn’t know you’d ordered had come in?” Rodney suggested, but John ignored him.

“—supervise the docking procedures, and Haley’s new helmsman asked if she could have a word with me.”

“Was she flirting with you?” asked Rodney, his fingers involuntarily pressing into John’s hip – after twenty-plus years of marriage, he still wasn’t completely over that ‘jealousy’ thing.

John, who had rested an arm across his eyes when he turned over, lifted it to look at him. “What? No! God, McKay, she’s _twenty-five_ , which I know because the reason she wanted to talk to me was to thank me for inspiring her to join the Air Force and become a pilot, when she watched that documentary they did about me flying Atlantis back to Pegasus and released after the declassification, which she watched _when she was three years old_.”

Rodney clapped a hand to his mouth, but not before a bit of his laugh had escaped.

John glared at him. “I’m so glad you think my pain is funny, McKay,” he muttered.

“Sorry,” said Rodney, not meaning it at all. “But you do know that my equations have been taught in college classes since declassification, right? And in high school curriculums for the last decade? Do you think that makes me feel old?”

“I think that makes you feel smug,” said John, but there was a smile threatening at his lips.

“Of course it does,” said Rodney. “And you should feel smug, too. Earth has more ships now, but a post to one is still a big deal for an officer. She must have worked hard to get there, and _you_ are the one who gave her the idea she could. Still feel old now?”

John did smile. “Maybe not as much. But there is something you can do about it...”

He slid his hand under Rodney’s cardigan, fingers light against his skin, and Rodney let out an exaggerated sigh. “It’s hard to be sympathetic about you feeling old when you’re acting like a horny teenager, Sheppard.”

“Some things just get better with age,” said John, grinning, and tugged until Rodney leaned over him, only a few inches between them.

Rodney gave in and kissed him, lightly. “Yes, they do.”

THE END


End file.
